Back at the beginning of my photographic journey, I remember I saw somewhere a series of stunning images created inside some huge and moody caves. I was immediately fascinated by the atmosphere of those pictures and I decided I wanted to make myself a set inspired by those shots.
I started searching on the net for a suitable location. I didn’t know of anything similar in my surroundings and I couldn’t travel for hundreds of kilometres to find what I was looking for.
After days of unsuccessful research, I was about to give up my plan, until I discovered a place that could be perfect for my scope.
It happened that I saw some images on Instagram (can’t remember how I got to them) from a photographer operating not far from where I live. And they were shot inside a beautiful cave.
I reached out to him to know where that place was and he told me there’s a complex of several sandstone quarries that makes it perfect for that kind of shoots.
This is the area I identified where those quarries could have been located. Quite a long walk from where I could park my car.
Before starting a real planning for the shoot, I wanted to see the place and make sure it was safely reachable.
Scouting a location is very important, I wrote about it here and I mentioned this exact set.
My first visit to the quarries was on a summer morning. I parked the car and followed the path inside the woods and the little creek flowing in the same direction. After a first part under the trees, the area opened in a wide clearing with tall grass and no shadow at all. The sun was burning and I thought about the day of the set, carrying all my gear and also realizing that the makeup artist would have had the same problem with all her stuff. Such tall grass and the river so close to it was also the perfect environment for vipers, so I was starting to think it was not a good idea.
After crossing the clearing, I entered the woods again and eventually made it to the quarries. The walk lasted nearly half an hour.
The ambient was amazing. The creek was now a little wider and the water was flowing gently. The inside of the cave was perfect for what I had in mind.
I spent a little time walking around and I discovered there were a few different quarries, a little further than the first one. But they were either completely flooded or not looking the way I wanted for the set.
So, after I had a look at what I needed to consider for the planning, I turned back and went home.
The first inspection revealed that summer was not the right time for the set. I couldn’t risk arriving on location already tired from the high temperature and I couldn’t ask the MUA to walk with a lot of baggage under a hot sun.
I then decided to visit the place again at the end of summer, to see if conditions improved.
It was mid-September, the temperature was completely different and, on that side, it was easier to walk the way to my destination.
The problem, this time, was the heavy rain that fell the days immediately before the inspection.
The creek turned into a proper river and the ground in the wood was a giant puddle of mud. Again, walking there with all the gear could be really difficult for us. And all the rain made the inside of the quarry very cold and humid.
If, on one hand, this second look was also a no-go, I considered that, without the extreme rainfall of that period, the beginning of fall was perfect to shoot there.
After this positive assumption, based on the data I managed to collect, I started with the real planning.
I had to find a model and a make-up artist for the project.
This was not difficult, as this kind of ideas is often welcomed by other artists, so I managed to involve Giorgiana and Laura.
I explained to them the whole setting and told them the possible issues of reaching the location, and they both agreed to move on.
We decided we should wait for the following spring to find the same conditions I encountered in mid-September.
I couldn’t know I was very wrong. I eventually had to wait for an entire year before we could reach the location. Spring, that year, was terrible. It rained a lot and we never managed to have a period of sun long enough to dry the path and the location. And then it was summer again.
In the end, at the beginning of September 2017, we managed to realize the set.
When we reached the quarry, Giorgina started creating her magic on Laura, while I checked inside the cave which the best places to shoot could be. I had a few ideas already, and I started preparing and pre-visualizing how to create my images.
Always keeping an eye on the progress of the makeup.
Part of the location was lit up by the natural light coming from the outside. But the most remote part of it was completely dark.
At that time I could not rely on powerful strobes and did not have any modifiers, so I could only use a naked speedlight on a tripod.
The first part of the set was planned to be moody and dark, with deep shadows, except for the last ones where I moved closer to the cave entrance.
The second part was completely different, more on a lighter look. However, the natural light coming in was not enough to work on low ISO. I had to push them quite a bit, and at that time I had a Fuji X-T1, so I was a little worried about the outcome. Some of them also required a little flash help, which created stronger shadows. However, I’m pretty happy with how they came out.
And for the last part, I brought with me my dad’s old Canon FTb and grabbed a roll of film frames.
I also shared some Unpublished images from this set with this post.
Take care and talk soon!